RUSSIAN naval activity in the straits has become ‘a matter of concern’, admitted the Gibraltar government.

It comes after it emerged that leader Vladimir Putin’s vessels are stopping off at least 10 times a year at the Spanish north African enclave of Ceuta, just 68 km from the Rock.

It has led to a stinging rebuke from a group of MEPs over Russia’s use of Ceuta as a regular refuelling base for its submarines, destroyers and frigates since 2011.

Some 11 MEPs complained to the European Commission that it amounted to a breach of the EU’s sanctions against Putin for his annexation of the Crimea.

A spokesman for the government told the Olive Press: “The use of a Spanish port by the Russians when Spain is a NATO ally must be a matter of concern.”

However, he added: “The defence of Gibraltar is the constitutional responsibility of the United Kingdom and so is any matter related to the presence of Russian submarines in this area.”

A spokesman for the British government’s Foreign Office told the Olive Press that access to Spanish ports is a matter for the Spanish authorities.

“But we have underlined our concern to them about providing such access at a time when Russia is causing so much instability in Eastern Europe,” the spokesperson told the Olive Press.

Spanish diplomatic sources have claimed the stops are ‘routine maritime activities and never military activity.’

The Russian stop-offs are granted by the Spanish Foreign Ministry on a case by case basis and bring around €1 million a year to Ceuta’s economy.

This behaviour has not been supported in the US, with one Washington-based think tank, The Heritage Foundation, describing Spain’s willingness to allow the Russian military to operate so close to Gibraltar as ‘a potential security problem’.

DO YOU HAVE NEWS FOR US at Spain’s most popular English newspaper - the Olive Press? Contact us now via email: [email protected]olivepress.es or call 951 273 575. To contact the newsdesk out of regular office hours please call +34 665 798 618.

36 COMMENTS

Let’s start by correcting a lie – the Crimea was an integral part of Russia from way back when, it was Khruschev who ‘gave’ it and other parts of Russia to form ‘the Ukraine’, before that it was never a State, he was from the Ukraine himself.

Spain making money from selling fuel to Russia should surprise no one. Whilst the Battle of Trafalgar was happening, Andalucian oak was being sold to the British Navy.

If Ukraine was “never a state” how does it come to have it’s own language and culture? The situation is like Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Separate sovereign countries, own language, own culture, annexed (like Ukraine) by more powerful neighbours. And, like those colonies, still being bitched and fought over.
Perhaps it’s a case of the Devil and the deep blue sea. But given a choice, it would be better that the USA is the Evil Empire, rather than the one run by the ex-head of the KGB, Dictator Putin.

stefanjo,
as always you spout b/s. Ukraine as is has several different languages and cultures if you bothered to actually do some research you would see what a fool you are. Try Wiki, which will inform you that Ukraine today has parts of different countries melded together to form the Ukraine and the Crimea is just one of them. The people of the Crimea don’t want to be part of the Ukraine.

As much of the USA’s foreign ‘excursions’ have been conducted by the CIA and have involved deliberate mass murder and political executions, your comments about Putin just confirm that that the opinions you spout are just that, nothing you say has ever had a shred of factual data.

Upon independence around ’91, clear borders were established, which constitutes/constituted Ukraine, until Vlad the Impaler felt like poking a hornets nest. Strictly by force majeure, the (still legal) borders are ignored and fresh parameters are being imposed by military force.
Difficult to think of many sizeable, Continental countries which aren’t “melded together” from separate entities. Don’t see how that disqualifies them from forming into a single unit.
As in Spain, of course, for all it’s internecine bad-will.

Putin might call himself a “President”. But let us see if anyone ever takes power in Russia while he lives. The next thing you will claim is that Russia is a democracy.
Gibraltar is A British Overseas Territory, not a colony. You still don’t say why Spain goes against the wishes and security of a fellow member of the EU and NATO. Money?

Not only an uninformed loud mouth but now spivving for the CIA. You need to deprogramme all the lies you learned in propaganda classes at school and learn some factual history.

NATO was formed to serve American interests, end of. The CIA deliberately paid billions of $ to the extreme rightwing racists in the Ukraine to foment trouble. It was they that encouraged the Syrians to demonstrate, that started the horror of what is happening now. Guatemala and the execution of the democratically elected government there in 1954 at the behest of the big American fruit company, Del Monte. Chile and the Contras. Afghanistan and the arming of Bin Laden’s Taliban, destroying all the progress instituted by the Russians. Setting up the supply lines of heroin from the Golden Triangle – these are your friends you shill for.

Putin has given back to the Russian people a sense of pride in their country, something that self loathing Brits like you could use a lot of. Is he perfect, far from it but obviously you support wholeheartedly the concentration camp at Guantanamo where innocent men are still being held today. It was’nt Putin that created the fertile ground for the Jihadists to be born but don’t let that stop your irrational support for the American military industrial complex – BTW do the CIA send you a little bung each month.

Stefnjo! Putin is not a dictator. I myself have been to Russia six or seven times over the last two years. The people of Russia are in no way living under a dictatorship, anyway that is simply western propaganda and once again pure and unadulterated lies. I found Russians to be some of the most intelligent, educated, well mannered and spiritually connected people, far more welcoming than the rednecks of Spain, who are simply victims of misinformation and poor education, keep em dumb and they will do what you say” ignorance mixed with arrogance all to hide total inadequacy. Anyway, this is all about oil and gas pipelines. It has nothing to do with anything else, it is purely and simply the Americans desire to control the entire resources of the world so they can plunder it and abuse it in the age old American cowboy way. They have Hollywood media spouting this good v evil lie….I am sorry you need to understand the evil America is the bad guy…..Russia and Putin are the good guys mate. You better pray for the Russians to come to the rescue once again as they have always done. Right now America is locking up 40 countries under TTIP/ TTP and no one knows about it. They keep intermittently screwing every single country of resources with their false undemocratic lies. WHEN WILL THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD AND EUROPE LEARN THAT THE AMERICANS ARE SNAKES THAT CAN NOT BE TRUSTED. Special relationship ????? Get lost , we do not need back stabbing friends who simply use us ……ooohhhhhh it’s endlessly SICKENING how stupid people are who eat the bs they are fed by the media and television and good old Hollywood ….it’s so powerful a tool, the whole world watches it and believes it. Lemmings

Bernard,
an excellent factual post but you see people like stefanjo have been hoodwinked and brainwashed since childhood. Imagine having to admit to yourself let alone anyone else and especially a public forum that you have been conned all your life, that takes humility and a bit of courage – don’t expect him to answer any of your comments, he never does he just engages in stupid immature insults.

You could put the question to him – has he ever been to Russia, has he ever studied Russian history in depth, does he know any Russians. I have a friend up in Bilbao, he has a daughter, at 10 she spoke Spanish, Euskadi and quite good English and Russian, she spent each summer with her paternal grandmother in Russia. I well remember Igor saying to me that his daughter would never go to university in Spain as they never do any work but at Russian university – you have to work damn hard.

You really know how to pick your allies Stuart….
Sometimes one has to choose a side. I choose the one this side of the old/new Iron Curtain.
Because of your view of The West and it’s iniquities, perhaps it may be instructive for you to join Edward Snowden in his reluctant exile. You can ask him where he’d rather be.
It would also solve your despair, should a Brexit fail to happen.

I lament if I have offended to some one but is a fact that Gibraltar can not pretend to play the roll of UK in international affairs .And that really is a colony. The last existing in European territory.

And the fact that the Russian people prefers Putin for the presidency of their goverment , probably is relationated with some of his virtues of this remarkable personality. It´s a fact that Putin fights for the interests of Russia , This can be bad for us , but is perfectly
understandable.

And,…Bernard, with reference the people of the United States , incorrectly called “Americans”- name that must applied to every person living in the American continent . They, the people of the United States do not deserve to be insulted because they are defending their interest that are not the exactly the same that the intests of the people of another countries. UK included. Instead insult them You must be feel grateful to them them, because they- with sacrifice of many their young, and with the waste of many of their wealth have prevented that UK have become in a province of the Reich or in a republic belonging to the URSS.

I meant OUR pointless little lives, not simply yours, sorry we all have been in your position. Too many Hollywood endings make us believe America saved us from hitler….look,Anselmo, it cannot be possible to be grateful to a country that has contributed nothing but death and devastation and killed MILLIONS of innocent civilians in their quest for financial domination of the planet, whilst destroying the planet and causing anger and hatred that will last forever and only get worse. The youngest country in the world with the least history going around telling everyone else how to live but all based under the pretence that it calls for democracy when it only wants to steal the resources. Yes they are brilliant liars, smile in your face and stab you in the back. AMERICA AMERICA. It was a shock to me when I finally admitted the truth to myself, yes I was like you not so long ago, I believed what they told us. Enough is enough, come on mate

Hilarious. Leave the EU and rely on trade with America instead. Whilst calling the country a monster.
You two talk like the old apologists for Stalin. Who is of course the model for Putin. No dictator ever calls himself that, it has nasty connotations, they use words like “El Caudillo” – Franco. “The Dear Leader”- Kim Jong Il and so on. It’s OTHER people who describe these bullies, accurately, as “dictator”.
Tell all this flannel to Pussy Riot, they’ll put you right.

Stefanjo, one girl from pussy riot in Spain is currently being put on trial for what she did five years ago in SPAIN when they desecrated a religious site. Haven’t heard about ?? Oohhhhhh I wonder why? Maybe your ears are closed or maybe if it happens in the EU it doesn’t matter. Only in Russia does it matter to anyone eh?? And other people say he is a dictator, who are they??? What are their motives? Have you thought about it or looked into it? No??? Police killing on site 12 year old kids, shooting them dead and asking questions later?? Over one thousand civilians shot by police since January first 2016???? Does it happen in Russia ???? No???? Is that not a good enough reason to enter America and change the regime???? Because it would be enough if the other way around to destroy and kill millions of innocent civilians under US logic. Final point is about homophobia, as I worked within musical theatre there were plenty of gays working and acting living freely. Yet we are told a completely different truth. BUT THE IMPORTANT QUESTION is why do we believe everything we are fed by the media without questioning it. By now, after all the endless lies we should really know better. Please search Victoria nuland phone call on YouTube and LISTEN to what they are saying! Read Stuart’s posts back and allow your mind to WAKE UP. STOP the ignorance mate,
Anselmo???? Americans are from the United States of America, not the Americas but you shine a light on yourself. Grateful to America not to be under the reich???? The Russians defeated hitter idiot and they lost 20 million to save your pointless little life so you can be free to be ignorant. History lessons at school told you a lie about who ended the Second World War, young Americans turned up at the last moment and sided with the winners, but of course we want to believe it was all us!! Haha pitiful comments both of you. BUT the saddest part is there are many many more of you out there who simply believe you know the truth but fail to understand that the truth you know is LIES. It will be difficult to accept that your entire belief system isn’t even your belief system. You both have a lot of work to do, please think outside the box more , please.

You, who are so angry against the United States , should remember the Monroe Doctrine:”America for the Americans”. And you are supporting this in an unconcious way. The citizens of USA when call himself Americans,are appropiating of an identity that not belong them.

All your rage against USA, is a proof of cognitive disonance that you suffer with respect to the fact that without the aid of USA, the UK would lost the I WW, the II WW and that this second war probably would been finished with all Western Europe invaded for the Soviet Armies. In the case If You have some doubt about this, I recomend you to read “Hitler.The Ice Breaker of the Revolution” written by Viktor Suvorov. In this book is exposed clear evidences about the preparatives of the Soviet Union for to conquer all Western Europe.

The United States did not fought in the WWII against Germany -despite the president roosevelt made all their best for It , till the moment in which Germany declared the war to USA.

I collect money in uk pounds, privately educated so forget payroll. However, it’s a worthy income if anyone was able to get it, and I applaud it. Truth is light…..the other ….is….???The other is ………???????? DARKNESSSSSSSSSSSS and boy is it dark, so dark so so so so dark it’s not even believable. So I understand you

Snowden is livingin the closest thing to heaven for goodness sake………..I know Russians and my goodness their women, who by the way all have important positions in law, accountancy, banking, policing, Christ they have a respect for women that is reciprocated which makes the rest of the world look so repressed and messed up that it is inconceivable. fool dumb fool you, don’t have a clue. He sacrificed himself for people like you and me. He is not anything but true the only problem he has is with the weather , but then Russia is big and has the same quality of beaches and weather all Europe dream

Has it been noticed that we are talking about Jews now, instead of the Euro ?? Why, I am afraid Africans have had a far worse treatment under the majority of the world, Jews had a hard time in one country for a terrible period of time”……..what about the rest????????????? For Gawds sakes. It is beyond crazy

Anselmo,
you always spout a fascist account of history and Spanish ‘blindness’. What is the origin of the word America – Amerigo – an Italian – did any white European invader ask any of the indigenous people what they called their continent – no, in North,Central and South America they set about exterminating them. The Spanish killed, worked to death over 40 million and the Aryan and Celtic invaders in the north exterminated over 19 million.

You know so little of the factual history of WWI it should be embarrassing for you. Germany was’nt beaten by the British Empire or by the late addition of American troops – back home in Germany a lot of Germans were at the point of starvation and a revolution began, that is what beat Germany.

WWII – if the little Austrian had’nt been so stupid he would never have started a campaign in Eastern Europe, he would have concentrated on destroying Britain and then he would have won inside of 18 months. The British army had a stupid public school officer corps that was as thick as ~#t. It’s weapons were either out of date or just plain crap. I had an uncle that was a professional soldier and when he returned from the humiliating defeat by numerically inferior German army at Dunkirk he told my mother that he thought that we would be defeated. He had nothing but praise for the Wehrmacht – it’s modern weaponry, training and officer corps – best in the world, if the high command had killed the Austrian, there would have been a totally different outcome.

Hitler’s fateful mistake was the same as Napoleon – to invade Russia. If he had concentrated on the oil fields of Baku, he might still have been successful. The attack on Moscow and Stalingrad and the Russian winter did for him. He should have given wholehearted support to the Afrika Korps and gone for the oil felds of the Middle east, he did’nt and the rest is history.

As Bernard said, it was the Soviets that defeated the Wehrmacht. The brilliant Erwin Rommel a soldier far ahead of his time had a simple and effective plan that the jealous little Austrian refused to consider – a motorised force of 200,000 men that could have raced to anywhere the western allies landed in northern France, it would have been a slaughter and again history would have been different. We should be very grateful to the French Resistance that destroyed the rail lines from the South of France, if not the Das Reich division would have arrived in northern France with all it’s tanks operational, again a different result. Had the amphetamine junkie Goehring not wasted his Luftwaffe on bombing England and concentrated on destroying enemy armies again a different history.

It was the American rich that prevented a battle hardened force from entering Spain in 45 and exterminating all the Fascists – what a different Spain you would have grown up in Anselmo.

Krishnamurti – the awakening of intelligence happens the moment you realise you are stupid.

Required reading for stefanjo and those who ‘think’ like him – the Mass Psychology of Fascism.

I agree with you about that my ideas concerning historical events must be improved- i´m interested in to found the book that you have recommended to me.

I think that yours ideas about history are more needed of a serious revisión.I´m afraid to get bored to you , so that I´ll refer to only one thing , one of the many , that i think are miscarried in your comentary, one thing that makes to fall allt he house of cards of the collection of ideas that you exposed in your comentary:

The invasión of the Spain of Franco by the allies after the II WW; just as was proposed by Stalin:

It was not posible because Curchill in those days was thinking in to attack the soviet Union .

If You read about the “Operation Unthinkable”, you will see that Churchill, few months before the end of the war ,ordered to the British Army the preparation of a plan for a surprise attack of the USA and UK armies, in alliance , yes alliance , with the german army against the Soviet Army.

I think that is not necessary to apreciate that is obvious that the triumph of the “nationals” or “fascists” in Spain would have been impossible without the hidden but determinant aid of UK.

Anselmo, Churchill and the Americans were’nt so stupid to even think of attacking the Soviets. You obviously don’t know anything about the resolution of the American high command at the end of WWII – never again would they attack an enemy comparable to themselves – even so it did’nt work out for them against a peasant army in Vietnam.

It was the elite in the UK and France that in part enabled Franco’s victory against the wishes of the ordinary British and French – you left that part out Anselmo.

Far as I’m concerned, they’re on our side. Warts and all. THEY aren’t in Putin’s back yard, but he’s certainly in ours. In spitting (with contempt) distance of Gib. He’s taking the proverbial, stirring up a bit of the old divide and rule, to further his ambitions of splitting the EU.

You turncoat, the subject is subs in the Med and Putin stirring it up there. Never mind roaming the planet looking to justify your hero. As for TTIP, suggest you read Owen Jones in todays Guardian and realise what people power in the EU can accomplish. Britain isn’t so gullible to think we have “friends” anywhere, just useful allies. Putin will never be one of those. Even Spain, useful idiots in the Med, have now busted a bunch of his thieving cronies.

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